Pre-Conference Workshop at the European Population Conference
Mainz, Germany, 31 August 2016
Workshop on Web, Social Media Data and Demographic Research
Wednesday, August 31, 2016; 13:30-17:30
This training workshop is organized by the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Big Data and Population Processes as a side event at the European Population Conference in Mainz, Germany.
(Registration closed)
Workshop organizers: Emilio Zagheni (University of Washington) and Francesco Billari (Oxford University),
Description: Demography has been a data-driven discipline since its birth. Data collection and the development of formal methods have sustained most of the major advances in our understanding of population processes. The global spread of the Internet and Social Media has generated new opportunities for demographers:
- the increasing quantity of our online traces can be aggregated and mined for population research;
- formal demographic models can be used to understand the dynamics of online populations;
- social media affect people’s activities and life planning in a way that demographers are well prepared to study.
This half-day training workshop will focus on accessing Social Media data and analyzing them with Demographic Methods. The workshop is intended to:
(a) provide an introduction to tools like Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for collecting data from social media (e.g., Twitter and Facebook);
(b) present examples of demographic methods that can be used to gain insights from these data;
(c) favor communication and interaction among scholars and students interested in the emerging field of digital demography.
Format: There will be a mix of lecture-style presentations and hands-on guided exercises/tutorials.
Pre-requisites: Participants are expected to bring their own laptops and have basic familiarity with the statistical software R (e.g., they should become familiar with the material covered in this brief tutorial: https://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/Torfs+Brauer-Short-R-Intro.pdf
Registration: Participants must register in advance for the workshop by 21 August. There are a limited number of places, which will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Registration is free for IUSSP members and student associates. A registration fee of 50 euros for non-students and 25 euros for students will be charged to all others.
Please note that NO FINANCIAL SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE TO ATTEND THIS WORKSHOP. (and registration to this preconference workshop is not a registration to the European Population Conference).